


Back for You

by GamblingDementor



Category: Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)
Genre: Canon Continuation, F/M, First Time, Fluff, Outdoor Sex, Romance, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-06
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-03 04:30:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4086913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GamblingDementor/pseuds/GamblingDementor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spoilers for the ending of Safety Not Guaranteed.</p>
<p>The time machine is roaring and buzzing, its sound echoing throughout the forest and across the lake and booming back into her ears. It's loud, very loud. Almost as deafening as Darius's heart drumming inside her chest. <em>This is crazy. This is completely crazy and I'm going to wake up at home or in the stupid hotel room and it'll just be a crazy dream.</em> </p>
<p>What happens after the time machine sends Darius and Kenneth back in time? A series of moments capturing their relationship. The fic is rated mature because it will contain depictions of sexual activities, although not all chapters have mature content.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Back in Time

**Author's Note:**

> I can't explain why I love this movie so much, but I do. Maybe it's Aubrey Plaza's performance (and Mark Duplass is amazing too, as well as the others), maybe it's the captivating story and romance, maybe it's the settings (I really like forests and camping), maybe it's the science-fiction aspect, maybe it's all of these put together, but it's really my jam. I wanted to write about these characters because I feel that there is still a lot they could go through, even though the movie ended at the perfect moment.

The time machine is roaring and buzzing, its sound echoing throughout the forest and across the lake and booming back into her ears. It's loud, very loud. Almost as deafening as Darius's heart drumming inside her chest.  _This is crazy. This is completely crazy and I'm going to wake up at home or in the stupid hotel room and it'll just be a crazy dream._  Kenneth's hand is gripping hers, warm and strong, and he kisses her neck before lifting his head up at the sky, as if in prayer.

 

_I have only done this once before_ , the ad said.

 

Far, far away from her, she can hear Jeff cheering. The last thing she sees are Kenneth's eyes gazing into hers before a blinding light blue halo surrounds them. She holds onto his hand so tight it almost hurts.  _This is crazy._  She feels rather than she sees Kenneth lean in and when his mouth presses against hers, she knows that this crazy dream, whatever it is, is actually happening. Her free hand clutches the back of his head and she responds to the kiss with an intensity that she'd never known before Kenneth and that cannot be helped in all this momentum. Wind is gushing around them and she holds onto him for her dear life. 

 

Then, as soon as it started, it's over. The machine quiets down, the wind stops rushing by her ears and the guys on the dirt path leading to the lake have stopped shouting. Everything has fallen silent. The only thing left is Kenneth, their fingers interlaced, his mouth against hers that tastes of mints and a quiet breeze embracing them. When she opens her eyes again, much is the same. Kenneth is gazing at her and the eyes she's grown to love so much in the past few days are shining with pride. 

 

"We did it, Darius!" 

 

His face breaks into a smile. She doesn't quite understand what's so amazing about the engine stopping until she looks around. They're all alone. No agents, no Jeff, no Arnau. The lake itself looks as innocuous as any lake would, but she can sense a change. There's something in the air, something different. It's colder, somehow, and she notices a few patches of snow where there was just mud earlier.

 

"We... we went back in time." Her voice sounds nothing like it should, quiet and higher pitched. "It's winter. We're back in time."

 

"I knew it would work!"

 

Kenneth starts shutting down the machine, pulling a few levers, pushing buttons, totally unfazed by their  _traveling_   _back in time_ if not for his radiating pure joy. He keeps an arm around her waist and she's never needed a tether to the real world so much as this.

 

"We're time travelers..."

 

Maybe if she says it often enough, she'll wrap her mind around it.


	2. In the Forest

She doesn't know where she expected her first time to be, or when, but back in time lying on the forest ground (Kenneth gave her his jacket to lie down on, but it's still pretty cold and uncomfortable) at dusk in winter certainly wasn't part of her plan all along. Then again, if the past three days taught her anything at all, it's that you can never know for sure what's awaiting you.

 

Kenneth's breath is warm against her neck as he guides himself inside her slowly and the weight of him above her is her last link to reality. This could all so easily be a dream, but his hands now clasping hers beside her head, his kisses down her neck, the warmth of his whole body covering hers are all very much real.

 

"Are you okay?" he asks and leans back to look into her eyes. She always suspected that sex would be a rather intimate deal, but she never thought it would be  _that_  intimate, or with a man she trusts so much that she went back years into the past with him and left everything behind.

 

"Uh hu," she nods and he smiles and there's all the joy in the world contained in his eyes.

 

In truth, it does sting a little bit, but she's not going to tell him and risk him wanting to stop. Kenneth does sense that she is slightly uncomfortable, though, and stays still once he's fully inside her, giving her time. He presses their foreheads together and his lips hover over hers before she catches them into a brief kiss. 

 

"Kenneth, I told you, I'm okay."

 

"All right."

 

They're still looking right into each other's eyes when he starts moving his hips and, while the slight uncomfort doesn't completely go away, this is far from entirely unpleasant. The cold is biting at her everywhere that isn't touching  _him_ , but his hand cups her face and the gesture fills her with warmth. His eyes are fluttering shut, his mouth slightly open — he looks like he's having a really good time.

 

No part of this is how she pictured it. She never thought she'd be doing this with a guy she's only known for three days, yet she can't imagine having a deeper connection with anyone else than with Kenneth. She never thought she'd be outside, and still wearing her old gray cardigan and her dress and her shoes, but when she jumped him as soon as they got off the boat, she was  _not_  going to wait till they found a nice warm bed with all the time and comfort they needed to do this right − they're together, they really like each other, and that's already enough. She never thought she'd be that cold, yet the prickling of the winter air is the perfect contrast to Kenneth's heat around her, inside her. And of course, she never thought she'd lose her virginity during a shortly prepared time travel to save her mom, yet here she is, on this forest ground with Kenneth, and she couldn't picture it any other way right now.

 

She wraps her arms around his neck, careful not to touch his ear, and can feel the hard muscles on his back tensing with his every move. That's what she gets for falling for a martial artist... Definitely no ground for complain here. Kenneth keeps the pace slow, but it's still very passionate and Darius already feels overwhelmed as is. He strokes her cheek lovingly as his hips rock against hers and that kind of tenderness is what she's always needed all along.

 

Back and forth and back and forth, this whole thing is starting to feel pretty good for her too. Kenneth is making some low grunts and she could definitely get used to that. Good thing she plans on doing this again. And again. She's never felt as close to another human being in her life. She could watch him forever, with his dorky bandana still around his head and his beautiful brown eyes and his cheeks reddened by the cold.

 

"Darius, I..." Kenneth groans and she threads her fingers into his hair, keeps him close. Erratic jerks of his hips, deeper,  _better_ , once more, twice, and he sighs out deeply before stilling.

 

She's thankful he doesn't roll off her immediately and leave her to shiver in the biting cold. He doesn't crush her either, simply stares into her eyes, his thumb stroking her cheek. His smile is quiet and beautiful.

 

"That was amazing," he whispers and his breath is as warm as his palm cupping her face.

 

"Yeah..."

 

Her heart is still beating just as fast as before and she's not sure it's ever going to calm down.

 

"Wanna go to my place?"

 

She nods. When he pulls out of her and she gets up, she can feel him dripping out of her and somehow that seals the idea that her first time just happened on this forest ground right now, that it's all a done deal. That still puts a smile on her face and she doesn't care if it sounds gross.

 

"Let's go," she says.

 

She grabs his hand and lets him guide her to the next step of their mission.


	3. Wood-Burner and New Plans

She pulls the cold wet dress over her head to put on the yellow T-shirt. It's too big for her and it smells like dust, but it's Kenneth's so she doesn't mind one bit.

 

"Are you sure we're safe here?" She calls out to the next room, where he's making plans on the kitchen table.

 

He's put a few logs in the wood-burner as soon as they came in and the whole house is starting to get warm. It smells like smoke and reminds her of the previous night. It feels like a hundred years ago they spent the night at the campside, yet technically, it's a few years from now, and really, it was just yesterday. 

 

"Positive. It belonged to me by now, and I was living in Colorado by 2004 so there's no risk of my past self stumbling upon us."

 

She takes off her shoes, pulls off her thighs and panties, and puts on the sweatpants she also found in Kenneth's wardrobe. They're baggy and not the right size for her by any means, so she pulls the strings tight to hold them up. A look at herself in the mirror tells her she looks silly, but her clothes were wet and cold from outside and it's the best she could find in the almost empty room. She pulls a chair in front of the wood-burner to let them dry on it and goes on to find Kenneth.

 

He has already written half a dozen of pages by the time she walks back into the kitchen. He looks up and pauses for a second, his eyes a bit wide.

 

"Darius, you look..."

 

His voice trails off, but the shy smile on his face puts one on hers. She plops down on the chair next to his and he snaps out of it.

 

"Did you say 2004?" she asks.

 

"Yes," he says and hands her an outline of what seems like several months worth of action. "You said you were fourteen when it happened, right?"

 

_And four months and twenty-six days_ , she thinks, but she just nods.

 

"There's no point in going back all the way to 2001, then."

 

The way he says it is quite telling. She already thought that there was no going back for Belinda anymore, not after what happened, but it still makes her feel all warm inside to know for sure that he barred that path from his plans altogether. She smiles — still shyly, but they have all the time in the world to get used to one another and go beyond the shyness — and takes his hand. He squeezes it before taking the paper sheet from her hand and laying it on the table in front of them.

 

"So, the first step in our plan is to find where the guy lives..."

 

He goes on and on and Darius half loses count of what he says as she gets lost gazing at him and his big words and his enthusiasm. There will be time later to ask for details anyway. He never lets go of her hand, as if touching her has become a second nature  — it feels like he's  _never_  letting go.


	4. Warm Bed

Kenneth's bed is narrow and a bit too small for two people, but it's soft and comfortable, and they don't need much space anyway, considering they're as close as two humans possibly can.

 

"Is this okay?" he asks, his mouth right against her neck, kissing the words out on her skin more than speaking them.

 

She's sitting on his lap, her back against his bare chest. As cold as their first time was, this time, it's hot. She's surrounded by Kenneth's warm body and she feels comfortable and absolutely more than okay. Kenneth has slipped a hand under the overlarge T-shirt and is cupping her breast, and his other hand is brushing against the soft skin of her stomach at the waistband of the borrowed sweatpants, ready to dip underneath.

 

"Yeah," she answers breathlessly.

 

His fingers have the precision and delicate touch you would expect from the amateur mechanic he is. She hasn't told him yet that she was a virgin until today − she has no idea if it showed. In any case, if you don't count their first time back in the forest when his fingers brushed against her to find her wet and ready, she has never been touched in that way before by anyone else.

 

"That feels nice..." She breathes out.

 

He trails kisses against the nape of her neck as one of his fingers slips inside her. This is nothing like earlier today. They are replacing that hurried humping that she still enjoyed so much with something slow and passionate and sensual and she can't tell which one she likes better.

 

"I really like you, Darius." His voice is smooth and drawling and he's so…

 

"You're hot," she blurts out before even realizing what she's saying.

 

He answers with kisses along her jaw, open-mouthed, insistent, and she wonders what ever happened to her to deserve this much tenderness. His palm is grinding against her, two fingers inside and with his arms around her she feels full of him, like he's everywhere and will never leave, ever.

 

"I think you're hot, too."

 

"Yeah?"

 

"And pretty."

 

"All that, huh?"

 

His hand has picked up a pace, the other one massaging her breast. Her hips go along with whatever moves he's pulling, and in some small room of her mind she knows that he's hard against her back but they have all the  _time_ in the world for that afterwards. Not mentioning that this is all starting to sake effect on her in the best way.

 

"All that and more," Kenneth concludes.

 

He is going at it faster and deeper, yet all of this is still so tender she might be dreaming. This is exactly what she wished she'd get a few years ago, when her virginity seemed like a huge deal and no guy ever showed interest, or were such losers she fenced them off. This is what she wanted, a guy who is sweet and really cares about her, who is actually an interesting person and makes her want to do things. And if he happens to be excellent at fingering, this is all added bonus.

 

Then, all of it combined is her downfall. Kenneth's lips on her neck, his fingers on her, inside her, his warm arms, all of it is too much and she just lets it all out. Her back arches, a moan escapes her lips and it feels as if her whole body is pulsing. Kenneth holds her even closer and somehow that makes the whole feeling even better.

 

"That was nice," she says when the sensations have passed.

 

He nods, his head still in the crook of her neck, his hair tickling her skin.

 

"Now's your turn," she says eventually, turns around, and gets to work.


	5. New Car

Kenneth's car was in Colorado with him in 2004, so they have no vehicle here in Ocean View. When she points that out, he says he'll take care of that. He comes home with some other car, a black one, smaller and newer, which makes it seem more anonymous than the ever recognizeable yellow old timer. Darius preferred the other one, the one where their feelings for each other blossomed, where they confided in one another and found trust and acceptance. But she says nothing and climbs aboard the new one. Maybe they'll get to create some new memories in this one as well.

Sometimes she's driving, most of the time he's driving. Kenneth has a very good idea of where they're going, her not so much. When she told him the name of the man who killed her mother (it's been eight years, yet she still can't get his face out of her head — at least he got arrested and she got some amount of closure on that front, but not the kind of closure any child would want), he launched an extensive search and managed to get ahold of his address within the hour. The guy lived some place in California in early 2004, from what they know, so that is where they're going. 

"You know…" she starts when they have been comfortably silent for more than an hour. Kenneth can talk  _a lot_ , but he can also know when to be quiet, and she likes that about him.

"What is it, Darius?" He asks and she realizes she hasn't completed what she meant to say because the words were stuck tight in her throat and hard to spell out.

"My mom, she… She was such a reckless driver. She would just drive straight to her destination, no matter what. She just didn't care. My dad was always scared to shit."

He smiles, says nothing, but his hand strokes her thigh softly and she puts hers on it. Their fingers intertwine and his skin is soft and warm under fer palm.

"The way you drive sometimes, it  makes  me think of her like that."

"Do you want me to slow down?"

 He is looking straight at the road, extra attentive, as if he wants to prove that he can be responsible and careful. She knows that already.  


 

"No," she says and squeezes his hand. "I like you just the way you are."

 

He turns to give her a smile, one of his shy smiles that she loves, like she's giving him a huge favor when in fact she's just being honest about her feelings. 

 

"Thanks," he says softly.

 

"And besides,  _my dad_  was scared, I wasn't. I loved that about her."

 

  
_Just as I loved everything about her._ Time mended that open wound, but it never healed completely, and these days, she feels the ache in every bone of her body.

 

"We're gonna get her back, Darius. I promise."

 

She nods, but she tells herself that she won't be completely sure until the day she sees her mom safe and sound in front of her. At least Kenneth is confident, and that's enough for her right now.

 

"Thanks."


	6. Motel Smiles

 "You're tickling me!" Darius laughs as Kenneth's fingers run up her sides. He smiles against her neck. Kenneth's smile has become a common sight in the past few days, the days they've spent in 2004. He never hides it, not really, but it's not exactly in the open either most of the time. She notices it when he glances at her from the driver seat and thinks she isn't looking. She feels it upon her waking up in the morning when she's curled up against him and his mouth presses lazy kisses on her shoulder, her neck, her face − he smiles all the while, she can tell. She  _knows_  he's smiling when they make love, too, and she's holding onto his back and he buries his face in the crook of her neck. She takes that to mean that he's just as happy with her as she is with him. 

"Sorry," he says but his hands linger on her skin, just barely there, electrifying nonetheless. 

"Don't be," she wraps her arms around his neck, "I like that." 

"Mmh, you're pretty awesome, Darius, you know that?" She likes the way her name sounds on his lips, like he's half saying it, half purring it.  

The joy of being with Kenneth is made of tangible big things, obviously. Having a trusted partner who has her back, working together to save her mother, counting on someone and giving the same support in exchange, sharing intimacy and happiness. But it also lies in the details. Going to bed and waking up in someone's embrace, eating meals with someone and actually  _talk_  (she can't count how many times she sat down with her father and went back to her room half an hour later without a single word uttered between the two of them), holding someone's hand whenever she needs comfort, and this tenderness too, that's part of it. The way he says her name, the way he strokes her hair when they're cuddling or just when they're talking and he feels like it (he calls her pretty and she smiles), the way his body weighs upon hers in bed, all of this is a dream she never thought she'd have. 

"You're pretty great too," she says but her voice ends up more like a moan when Kenneth's fingers finally get to work down there between her legs. 

They've learned a lot about each other in the past days, they've learned how to give each other pleasure and take it for themselves, and each time they've confirmed that they made the right choice when they chose each other. 

"I like you so much," he says and pumps his fingers in and out, his palm grinding against her. 

"I like you too," she answers and wraps her hand around him and that's part of how they show their feelings, pleasuring each other on a bumpy bed in a cheap highway motel, and it's tacky but it's their own way and she loves it. 

She grabs a condom from a box they bought at some shop along the road — how untimely would a baby be right now? — and he unrolls it himself. She guides him inside her and sighs when he's completely in. She's not sure she'll ever grow used the sensation. It still feels so new and amazing. 

All the rest becomes irrelevant when Kenneth is holding her like this, his arms the safest cocoon around her, and everything just feels so good and  _right_. All incertitudes leave her mind, washed away with Kenneth's kisses, his hands on her body, his mouth panting against her ear. Will they find the guy? Will they save her mom? Will they go back to the present? Will they make it through all this? With every thrust and kiss and touch, the answer is yes, yes, yes,  _yes_.  

"Kenneth…" His name rolls off her lips so naturally it's a wonder she didn't even know him a month ago. 

 

"Darius…"

 

He comes with a muffled grunt into her hair and makes sure she follows right after him, his fingers insistently working miracles on her. He gets rid of the condom and falls back on the bed afterwards, panting. They should probably shower, then get some sleep at some point, but for the time going, she's just happy to rest her head on him, listen to the thumping of his heart and find comfort in his arms around her. She looks up at him and he smiles, and it's all she needs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you read this and enjoyed it, please consider leaving a comment! You don't need an account to do so, and it really helps to know what people think about your writing. Even just one sentence.


	7. How it works

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darius and Kenneth discuss how time travel actually works.

"How does it work?" Darius asks the next morning over a foam cup of cheap coffee and a cereal bar that they got from the hall of the motel.

 

Kenneth is looking out the window, pensive, and doesn't hear her. His hair is spiky from the shower they took and she's found that he's not much of a morning person, or at least needs his quiet and not to be rushed. So she waits, stroking her thumb over his palm in circles. How Jeff was right when he said Kenneth was like skittish animal. Maybe a little dog who's been beaten before and needs a thousand gestures of kindness to get over it.

 

"Did you say something, Darius?" He asks a few seconds later.

 

"How does it work?" She reiterates.

 

"How does what work?"

 

"Time travel."

 

"You mean the time machine?" His eyes are lighting up with excitement at the prospect of talking about his creation and she feels almost guilty that she didn't mean the time machine.

 

"Yeah, well, the whole thing in general. Like, how do we get back?"

 

He takes a few seconds to think on her question.

 

"Well, I've only done this once before," he says carefully.

 

"Alone, right?"

 

"Yes. For the… For the old mission."

 

"Yeah," she says, too quickly.

 

They haven't talked about Belinda so far, and Darius would lie if she said she was eager to broach the topic.

 

"I went alone and came back alone, about twenty-five minutes after the time I'd left. All in one day. I still don't know if there is a correlation to establish, maybe it's linked to how far back you go, how long you stay… I'm not sure."

 

"And what happened in the past, like, did you have to avoid yourself? How did you do that?"

 

"I've trained intensively in techniques of discretion."

 

Thinking back on his martial arts training, she wonders what sneaking boot camp must have been like. She wouldn't mind going back to see  _that_.

 

"I don't think we need to bother about that, in any case," he adds. "My past self is in Colorado, as I've told you, and we are not going to be interacting with your young self. Besides, you're too young to mix yourself up with your current self, I think. Fourteen years old, you've changed a lot, I suppose?"

 

"Right."

 

He takes a bite off his cereal bar and gets really into his talk, gesturing with the one hand that Darius isn't holding, and crumbles fly across the room.

 

"It's like a V, you know? Time is like a V."

 

She nods. She's heard him say that before when he talked to Shannon about it, but like for the rest of this mission, she lets things run their course and trusts that Kenneth will explain what they need to know.

 

"It's all alternate timelines, if you want. What we're doing is go back in time within  _this_  timeline, alter it. It becomes an alternate timeline, and that's the one we go back to."

 

"Uh huh," she nods.

 

"Then that means we've changed the past successfully. Like I did with…"

 

He stops talking. His whole face becomes closed off and he pulls back his hand. He doesn't shut Darius off completely, like he might have before, but she senses that he's uncomfortable just sitting there, looking away.

 

"Kenneth."

 

A grunt.

 

"Kenneth, we don't have to talk about her."

 

"It's the past, Darius."

 

"We're in the past," she tries to humor him but fails spectacularly.

 

"I mean, she's done. She's the past. I'm going back for  _you_. I don't like to think about…"

 

"Then don't," she cuts him. "You don't have to. It's done. Let's never talk about it."

 

"Okay."

 

His voice is soft and there is suffering and shame behind it. If that's what Belinda brings out in him, Darius is fine with never talking about her again, ever, at all. It's not like it's her favorite person to talk about anyway.

 

"What I meant to say is that people involved don't seem to have any memory of the other timeline, obviously."

 

"Okay."

 

"I'm not completely sure what happens to your alter-ego from the alternate timeline, since the changes we're making are so long-lasting. Maybe time works its way into making sure you are at the launch site at the right time anyway, no matter what happens in between now and the alternate 2012 we're going back to. I'm not sure."

 

"We'll just find out," she says.

 

"Together" he adds and takes back her hand.

 

"Always," she smiles and drinks up her coffee so they can get back on the road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, if you read this and enjoyed it, consider leaving a comment to tell me what you liked :) It really means the world to get feedback.


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